Meet Majdy Fares. Majdy's story spans more than a decade and involves secretive dating, imposing mothers, travel, even civil war re-enactments. His story has everything, and every bit of it revolves around just...one...woman. This is one you won't want to miss.
Meet Majdy Fares. Majdy's story spans more than a decade and involves secretive dating, imposing mothers, travel, even civil war re-enactments. His story has everything, and every bit of it revolves around just...one...woman. This is one you won't want to miss.
In our third season of the podcast, we bring you I Did It for the Story as part of Story District Presents. All new episodes will feature true stories told live on the Story District stage and insights about storytelling from the host, Amy Saidman, Story District's Executive Director.
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This podcast is produced by Christopher Lee and Amy Saidman.
Music by Graceful Movement
Majdy: Every date was a Mission Impossible movie. We never held hands in public. We never rode in the same car. And we only hung out in places that immigrants don't go, like civil war reenactments, pottery barn, Renaissance festivals.
Amy: You're listening to Majdy Fares, this week's featured storyteller. This is I did it for the story. This podcast, we aim to do two things, showcase great storytelling and teach you something about the art of storytelling. First, we'll share one of our favorites, a true story told live on the Story District stage in Washington, DC, then I'll share my thoughts on something you can learn about storytelling from this particular story. Why me? I'm Amy Saidman. I'm the director of Story District, and I've been doing this now for over 20 years.
You can find out more about all the things that Story District does, our shows, classes, coaching, consulting, and more at storydistrict.org. And while you're there, subscribe to the newsletter. In the meantime, let's get to this week's story.
Majdy: Rhana and I were in college. She was studying to be an investigative journalist. And on our first date, it was very clear that she was going to be very good at it. Before dinner, she told me that she looked up all of my social media posts. Researched my ex-girlfriends. Discovered my childhood address. Read up on the crime stats for the neighborhood I grew up in.And when I asked, why would you do all of that? She said, to make sure you're not a creep. I said, me? You're the one submitting FOIAs.
But I admired her passion. Because I never had one. Rena knew she wanted to be a journalist when she was nine years old. When I was nine, I wanted to be a ninja turtle.
So we began sneaking around. See, we were hiding our relationship from her mother. It's her mom's dream. It's her mom's mission. To marry her Palestinian daughter to a Palestinian guy. So if our secret is leaked, her mom will freak. Who's Majdi? What does he do? Where is he from? Does he have a brother?
Because you have a sister. We could do two weddings at the same time, save money.
To avoid that, every date was a Mission Impossible movie. We never held hands in public. We never rode in the same car. And we only hung out in places that immigrants don't go. Like Civil War reenactments. Pottery Barn. Renaissance Festivals.
And, then one day, Renner received the Fulbright Scholarship that sent her overseas. And our relationship ended when our careers began. Just like that, the hide and go seek was over. While the hiding was over, her mom never stopped seeking. Whenever she left the house, she'd grab her purse, her keys, and a stack of Rhana's headshots, just in case.
Eight years went by, and I was in the middle of an early midlife crisis. See, I'm from Dearborn, Michigan, which is home to Ford Motor Company and the nation's largest Arab American community. It's where pickup trucks and bros like me are mass produced. I tried really hard to be different from all the other bros.
And for that reason, I was the same as all the other bros. And life in Dearborn became stale pita. Until one day, I discovered that Rhana was back in the States. She was living single in Brooklyn, and I had never left Michigan. I'd love to tell you that I slowly wooed her back into my life with handwritten love letters.
I'd love to tell you that we bumped into each other in an airport and shared an Uber. But the truth is, I just drove to Brooklyn and texted her in the area where you at. Send. And it worked!
Rhana and I caught up on eight years. She told me about her adventures in London. And how she spent the summer in Tunisia. I told her about my Saturdays at Costco.
And, good morning texts, good night Skypes. We began to see each other once a month. And then twice. Our relationship was much stronger the second time around. Suddenly I felt alive again. My life was full of adventure. She took me to a storytelling show. I didn't even know this was a thing. And because she was burning out at work, I provided support and balance.
We complemented each other perfectly. She was the gas, I was the brakes.
The best part was that we didn't have to hide our relationship because it was long distance. So we were free to be ourselves without worrying about her mom, aka the groom hunter. And everything was going perfectly until June 13th, 2015. That morning, Rhana wasn't replying to any of my text messages, and her phone was going straight to voicemail.
This is very unusual. Later that day, I tried again. Still nothing. At night, her sister called me, said she was worried. I said, me too. 24 hours passed and no one, not her friends, family, coworkers, or roommates, have heard or seen Rhana. Her sister called the police and the search was on. There were so many people involved in the search that someone shared a spreadsheet of hospitals, precincts, and even morgues to call.
Back in Michigan I was a mess, incapable of conversation. Pacing back and forth, going through every scenario in my mind, and the worst part was every scenario I imagined I could have prevented if I was with her. The next day, Rena was found in the ICU of Mount Sinai. She had a nearly fatal asthma attack and was on a breathing machine.
I flew out and met only her sister in the hospital. The two of us sat in shock. And memorized the beeps and clicks of the breathing machine, jumping at every alarm. A day passed, her sister braided Rena's hair, circled the tube with chapstick. Another day passed, we became friends with the nurses. Another day passed, the doctor finally gave us good news.
And on the fifth day, Rena opened her eyes, and saw the three of us standing over her. The doctor said she was going to have a full recovery. Rhana's eyes welled up, but the sedatives prevented her from sobbing. She grabbed my hand in public and wouldn't let go. And I knew then that I didn't want to be long distance anymore.
And at that moment, her sister received a text message, and her head popped up. She said, uh, you guys? I didn't tell mom about this because she's on vacation, but she found out and she's here. Rhana froze. Then she looked at me. Pulled me close and said,
Leave.
After five days of watching her sleep, Rhana woke up, said one word to me, and I ran out of the hospital. Later that day, a nurse asked, Hey, where's Majdy? And Rhana's mom was like, Who's Majdy? What does he do? Where is he from? And two years later, she became my mother in law, and I'm here.
Amy: I love a happy ending, and this story is definitely a happy ending for everybody involved. Um, this story, I want to dig in, I want to use this story to dig into structure, a particular structure I like to play with sometimes, which is norm, tilt, change, new norm. So every story in every story you need to, we need to understand who you are and what, what is your norm?
If we don't know what the norm is, we. We don't know what to care about, but the norm has to be thrown out of balance. Something has to be different about today. Why today? That's why you're telling the story because something new happened. Something is different. And then because of that thing that's thrown out of balance, there's a series of events and challenges, and there's a change.
And on the other side of the change, there's a new norm. So if you look at this story in its simplest form, the norm is the dating. Rhana and Majdy getting to know each other and date, and yes, they, they, there's, then they, they didn't see each other, then they got back together. Still, even though they had two phases of dating, Still, that's what they were, that's what Majdy’s setting up, that they're building this relationship.
They're getting to know each other and they're getting attached, especially the second time around. And then something throws it out of balance. So the story truly starts when we find out that she's in the hospital. Um, everything before that is set up and it's actually a really good skill to know when your story actually starts.
And when I say start, it means things have been set in motion. The norm has been tipped out of balance. That is when the story starts. That is when the momentum happens and that's when the challenge and the tension is there. We don't know where we're going prior to that. So now we know where we're going and we have a, and we have a driving question, which is, is she going to be all right?
And what's this going to do to their relationship? Or that's what I'm asking myself and that's what I'm interested in and that's why I'm in it like you want to hook So that that's how you get people hooked is that we have this question We just must have answered and we have to stay till the end to find out how it turns out so they go through all this and There's a change.
He doesn't just say, oh, and she gets out of the hospital and that's that. Nothing changed. Something has to change or it's not interesting. It's not really a story. And so what changes is him is his, um, awareness of how strongly he feels and how important this relationship is. And that this incident is what set that emotion and made that even more clear.
And then at the end, there's a new norm, which they, which is that they become a family. And every time you have a new norm, that's actually. the platform for the next story. It could be the norm for the next narrative arc. So hopefully that was helpful. I don't know if that was maybe a little bit, little bit, um, dense, uh, for this episode, but go ahead and maybe take what I've just shared and listen again with an ear towards what is the norm?
What throws it out of balance? What are the things that What are the series of events that unfold because of that? How does the main character, the protagonist, who's the storyteller, how does that person change and what's the new norm? And honestly, you can use this on anything. You can look at other TV shows, movies, and see if you can play with that structure.
Well, until next time, I'm Amy Saidman. I hope that you will continue listening. Tell your friends. Write a review. That's super helpful. Subscribe and keep following us and check us out at story district. org. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook. We have a YouTube channel and, um, we'll see you soon.